Good day. I am currently a product engineer at Grintek ewation (Cape Town). The product i am currently using is a HP 8591A spectrum analyzer (9kHz to 1.8GHZ). My monitor stopped working and displays nothing on the screen. I wanted to remotely control the spectrum analyzer through its serial port using MATLAB. I made up an serial cable with the connections to each pin connected as shown in Figure 1. I found this connection diagram in the “HP programmers guide HP 8590 E-Series and L-Series spectrum analyser” which can be downloaded at this link http://cp.literature.agilent.com/litweb ... -90235.pdf. This diagram is on page 720 of the programming guide.
Figure 1
When i plugged the serial cable in the serial port of the HP 8591A ( The other end of the serial cable was not connected yet) the monitor stopped working. When I the screen worked I did change some settings like restore factory defaults and aux ctrl.
I please need help in this matter, urgently.
Kind regards
Michal Kotze
Local Cell: 083 885 6969
International Cell: +27 83 885 6969
e-mail: mkotze@mtnloaded.co.za
Figure 1
When i plugged the serial cable in the serial port of the HP 8591A ( The other end of the serial cable was not connected yet) the monitor stopped working. When I the screen worked I did change some settings like restore factory defaults and aux ctrl.
I please need help in this matter, urgently.
Kind regards
Michal Kotze
Local Cell: 083 885 6969
International Cell: +27 83 885 6969
e-mail: mkotze@mtnloaded.co.za
Please double check the connector to which you are connecting your serial interface connector. Is it a DB9 female connector labelled “AUX INTERFACE” or “AUX INTFC”? If so, this is not a serial interface! This is an HP/Agilent-proprietary interface for controlling accessory products like the Digital Radio Test Set.
The AUX INTERFACE connector has power supplies for +5 V (pin 8), +15V (pin 9), and -15V (pin 7) and pin 6 is ground. You are therefore shorting the +5V supply to ground.
The serial interface connector for the 8591A is a DB25 connector, not a DB9 connector. The style of serial interface connector changed by the time the 8590 E-Series and L-Series analyzers were introduced. The E and L-Series analyzers use a DB9 male connector for the serial interface.
Here’s a URL to a manual that includes information on connecting an 8591A (and similar early 8590 series analyzers) to a PC via RS-232:
http://cp.literature.agilent.com/litweb ... 8-7094.pdf
Regards -
Relevant Products:#8591A#